Mr. Floatie: You can't ignore a seven-foot-tall turd

http://www.canada.com/victoria/aroundtown/story.html?id=70bf6200-fb6a-4cef-8cea-8902abba4b09


CREDIT: Debra Brash, Times Colonist
MR. FLOATIE: THE MAN BEHIND THE MASCOT: James Skwarok and his alter ego, Mr. Floatie, played on this day by stand-in Terry Bieman, work on their best, umm, moves to prepare for the Victoria Toilet Regatta set for July 23 in the Inner Harbour.


Flushed with Success
Despite some criticism, Mr. Floatie brings a comedic touch to a serious issue

Peter Cowan
Times Colonist


Tuesday, July 19, 2005


You can't ignore a seven-foot-tall turd.

That's Christianne Wilhelmson's take on Mr. Floatie, who has become a fixture at Victoria-area events. The program co-ordinator with the Georgia Strait Alliance says the chocolate bar-shaped mascot is responsible for renewed debate about what Victoria should do with its sewage.

Most people were tired of hearing about the issue, which the alliance has been pushing for more than a decade, but Wilhelmson said Mr. Floatie's recent appearances have changed that.

"He has managed to raise the issue back to the level where people are talking about it again," she said.

However, Wilhelmson's enthusiasm is not shared by Denise Blackwell of the Capital Regional District, who thinks Mr. Floatie is a childish waste of time.

Mr. Floatie is the mascot for People Opposed to Outfall Pollution, or POOP. Organizer James Skwarok, who also wears the mascot suit, said Mr. Floatie has been an invaluable tool.

"Without our mascot, I don't think we would have nearly as high a profile," he said.

Humour is a big part of the way Skwarok says he gets his message across. His business card identifies him as the "movement co-ordinator" and in conversation he switches to Mr. Floatie's falsetto voice, cracking jokes about the importance of fibre. The organization's website features a recipe for floatie snacks and the lyrics for the Mr. Floatie song.

The idea for Mr. Floatie came to Skwarok after seeing an episode of the TV show South Park, which featured a character named "Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo."

Using a backpack, garden wire, foam and velour, Skwarok and Terry Bieman built Mr. Floatie. A small fan inside the costume prevents Skwarok from overheating while he is out glad-handing.

This weekend, Mr. Floatie will be cheering on contestants at the Victoria Toilet Regatta in the Inner Harbour. They'll race human-powered boats, which must be fitted with a toilet.

The group is raising money to help pay for a sewage treatment plant, but with only $700 in the bank Skwarok admits it is more about raising awareness. POOP would like to see the sewage go through a secondary treatment system where an aeration system breaks down the sewage before it enters the ocean.

Right now, 120 million litres of raw, screened sewage are dumped into the ocean.

Since April 2004, Mr. Floatie has made appearances at many local events, including parades, the Tall Ships Festival and Swiftsure yacht race. He also attended candidate debates in the provincial election, raising the sewage issue with local candidates.

While POOP and the Alliance say Mr. Floatie has people interested in the issue, Blackwell, a Langford councillor and chairwoman of the Capital Region District's environmental and liquid waste committees, said the mascot is a waste of time.

"It's so juvenile that he draws attention to himself, not the issue," she said.

She thinks recent articles and letters to the editor have done far more to help the debate than Mr. Floatie has.